Bowling-alley.



N0. 642,80I. Patented Feb. 6, I900. J. N. McINTIRE.

BOWLING ALLE'Y.

(Application filed. Sept. 29,1899.) (N o M o d e l J Nirnn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JACOB N. MCINTIRE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO THE BRUNSWICK- BALKE-COLLENDER COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

BOWLING-ALLEY.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 642,801, dated February 6, 1900.

Application filed September 29, 1899. Serial No. 732,010. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JACOB N. MOINTIRE, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York city, Manhattan borough, in the county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bowling- Alleys, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates wholly to that portion of a bowling-alley which is commonly denominated the ball-return way and to that type or kind of ball-return way in which the balls are delivered onto the rearmost end of the ball terminal or rack, a sample of which type of return -way is shown and described in United States Letters Patent No. 630,728, granted August 8, 1899.

My invention has for its objects to improve this kind of return-way in two particulars, viz:- first, to render it capable of returning with more certainty or ease (under all conditions under which a return-way may have to be used) onto the ball-terminal the smallestsized ball of the series of larger balls, (which is usually about six inches in diameter,) and, second, to overcome or avoid all possibility of such smallest ball jumping the track or bouncing off of the rear end portion of the terminal after having been delivered thereonto, especially in cases'in which said terminal may be composed (as it frequently is) of two parallel substantially horizontal ways, of either wood or metal.

To these ends and objects my invention may be said to consist, primarily, in a novel form of the rearward-curved portion of the ball-track of the said type of return-way, this portion of the ball-track being curved in scroll form or substantially spirally in lieu of running in a substantially circular curve, as heretofore; and, secondarily, in having the rear end portions of the wooden or metallic ways or bars of the ball-terminal slightly spread apart, preferably in curved lines, all as will be hereinafter fully explained and as will be most particularly pointed out in the claims of this specification.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use ball-return ways according to my invention, either as to one or both features of the latter and either. (as to either part) in the precise form in which I have shown said invention' carried out or under some modification thereof, I will now proceed to more fully describe my improved construction of ballreturn way, referring by letters and numerals to the accompanying drawings, which make part of this specification, and in which I have the forms in which I have so far successfully practiced my invention.

In the several figures the same part will be found always designated by the same letter or numeral of reference.

Figure 1 is a partial side elevation of one of my improved ball-return ways shown with a portion of the long horizontal part of the ball-track removed or broken out and the end portions of the return-way moved toward each other or shown nearer together than they are placed in practice for the purpose of getting such a view on a sheet of permissible size and at the same time have the scale sufficiently large to clearly exhibit the novel construction to be illustrated. Fig. 2 is a partial top view, enlarged scale, of what is seen in elevation at Fig. 1, showing only the players end portion comprising the ball-terminal,&;c., and in this view the forwardlyprojecting overhanging end portions of the curved balltracks are, it will be seen, broken OK in order that by this view may be better seen just how the rear end portions of the two bars or ways of the terminal are spread apart or made slightlydivergent (preferablyin curved lines) as they extend back to the proper locality to catch the smallest-sized ball (usually about six inches in diameter) delivered onto said terminal. Fig. 3 isa detailvertical section at the line to of Fig. 1 looking in the direction there indicated byarrow, but drawn on the same scale as that of Fig. 2, and simply showing especially the arrangement of the several sets of hallways constituting, respectively, the ball-returning track and the two terminals or ball-racks on which the homesent balls rest for use by the players.

I have indicated by a heavy horizontal line,

shown both features of said construction in,

so marked, the floor or level of the alley bed or beds of the alley or pair of alleys in connection with which the return-way shown is supposed to be used.

As usual, the ball-track starts, as at a, at a suitable elevation at the pit end of the alley to permit the placement thereon (or in a cage such as usually combined with this part a) of the balls to be sent back to the players end of the alley, from which point the track suddenly descends obliquely, as at b, and thence merges into the horizontal portion 0, so that a ball put on at a will roll down the incline, as illustrated by circle 1, and travel thence toward the players end of the alley, as illustrated by circle 2, all about as usual in the type of return-way shown as heretofore made.

At the players end is located the terminal (or main ball-rack) g, which is shown as composed of two cylindrical tubes of metal supported in about the usual manner (at a suitable elevation) by three metallic frames 1n, 0, and p, the foremost one of which, m, is made or provided with a stop device '11. These frames m 0 19 also support the tubular ways 2', which constitute the usual rack for the series of smaller balls, which, as usual, are rolled or sent home in one of the ball-gutters of the alley and areplaced by hand by an attendant in the said rack formed oftubes 2'.

The ball-track (or set of ways) on which the balls roll home instead of being circularly curved upwardly and thence forwardly over the rear ends of the terminal bars or ways 9 is, as plainly shown at (Z efof Fig. 1, turned in an approximately spiral or volute-like curve, the effect of which is that a ball rolling from the lowermost horizontal portion 0 onto the curved part cl of the ways, as illustrated at Fig. l by circle 3, will not meet with so abrupt an obstacle to its onward course, and hence will more easily or at a greater speed travel by its impetus up the part c of the track and thence along to the point (or approximately to the point) f, and thus more certainly reach a point in its course of travel on the ways (1 c' f from which it will descend onto the rear portion of the terminal g, along 011 which it will roll, as illustrated by circle 4 and the arrow, until its further progress is stopped either by contact with the stop n or with some ball previously returned onto the ways g. This scroll-like or sort of spiral form of the rearward-curved portion of the ball-track by which the balls are caused to ascend to a level slightly above that of the terminal ways g and be delivered properly onto said terminal I have found by experi ment and practice to constitute, practically, a great improvement on the circular form, and in carrying into effect this feature of my invention it is not necessary, of course, to follow exactly the species of scroll or the exact curvature I have shown, the substantial effects of this novel feature being attainable under meremodifications of or immaterial variations in this scroll-curved rear end portion of the ball-track. It is essential only that the curved portion 61 e f be such that the curve is comparatively fiat as the line leaves the horizontal part of the track and gradually increases in sharpness (or the suddenness of its curvature) as it approaches the part f, at about which the rolling ball descends nearly vertically onto the rear end of the terminal ways g. These rear ends of the terminal in lieu of being merely curved upwardly, as seen at h, Fig. 1, as heretofore, (for the purpose of inciting the ball delivered thereonto to roll forwardly thereon, as indicated by arrow at circle 45,) are also spread apart or diverge rearwardly, as shown atFig. 2, so that in the event of the smallestsized ball (which drops the greatest distance in descending from contact above with the ball'track at the vicinity of f into contact with ways g) not striking simultaneously on the two ways g instead of tending to jump the track or actually bounding sidewise off of the terminal will settle down in between the ways g,where they are more widely separated, and coming to a proper bearing on both ways will then roll forwardly thereon.

At Fig. 2 the dotted circle represents how a six-inch ball delivered onto the rear end of terminal g will be delivered initially onto that part where the two ways are slightly divergent, and hence will be caught and retained by the said ways with more certainty than with these ways being the same distance apart at every point, as heretofore in the construction of that type of return-way to which the just-above-described improvement relates.

Of course the exact degree of spread and the extent of the divergence lengthwise of the ways must be determined by the judgment of the skilled alley-builder according to the surrounding circumstances and conditions, the elevation to which the balls are lifted (so to speak) and the speed with which and the manner in which they may be discharged at the localityf of the particular return-way determining, in a measure, the proper precise forms of the laterally spread or divergent end portions of the ways g.

Having now so fully described my improvements that any skilled alley-builder can construct a return-way embodying either one or both of the (separable) parts of myinvention in either the form shown as to either or under some mere modification of my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a ball-return way of the type referred to, a ball-track, the rearmost, upwardlycurved, portion of which is formed to present a scroll-like curve; that is, a curve, the sharpness of which increases, as it extends rear wardly upwardly and forwardly; all substantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore set forth.

2. In a ball-return Way of the type referred to, the combination, with the rear, curved,

5' end portion of the track on which the balls r011 homewardly and from which they pass onto the terminal, or ba11-rack,0f a terminal,

the rear ends of the ways of which are divergent, 0r flared apart; all substantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 22d day of September, 1899.

J. N. MCINTIRE. In presence of- R. W. DRUMMOND, O. B. ACKERLY. 

